Buen Viaje!

I’ve always thought Santa works in mysterious ways. Or is that God? Well, whoever it is that’s watching me from above—from the North Pole or the great abyss—thanks. I’m leaving my retail job after New Year’s. Convinced that my chronic drained state is not simply post-college laziness but rather the effect of punching buttons into a cash register, and that my cynical attitude can be blamed on corporate America, I decided I needed a change. Not quite ready to attend a spiritual concentration camp, and still stuck on page 7 of Eckhart Tolle’s “The Power of Now,” I chose to migrate south for the winter.

Although Tolle continues to sit on my nightstand unopened, I am a firm believer in the power of peer pressure. One of my college roommates convinced me to accompany her to Antigua, Guatemala for eight weeks to live with a host family and teach elementary school. While excited to live in another country, I am slightly anxious at the prospect of teaching geology in Spanish. The head volunteers assure me not to worry, for if my Spanish is too weak to talk about science and math, I can teach the younger children to hold a pencil and write. Yet I don't think they understood me correctly...it's not my Spanish I'm worried about, it's remembering all the geography and long division I forgot after middle school.

Perhaps my good fortune of being able to travel abroad, finding an affordable plane ticket with my “doing-good” discount, and being released from talking about the beneficial qualities of stoneware are all gifts from above. Or maybe my roommate merely wanted company and figured I was an easy target. Either way, I applied to the volunteer organization partly out of frustration at not finding meaning in my job or landing a position where I can write. (And also because I never traveled abroad.) Ecstatic about my departure, I can’t help think the whole situation is slightly ironic. Just two days after I sent my deposit to the organization, I received an acceptance email to be an intern at a renowned local magazine in Santa Fe. Life works in mysterious ways.